BMJ Open Quality最新文献

{"title":"Principles for the conduct of human factors/ergonomics in healthcare: a scoping study of the published evidence.","authors":"Angela O'Dea, Mahnaz Sharafkhani, Margaret Codd, Mary Browne, Paul O'Connor, Marie E Ward","doi":"10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003222","DOIUrl":"10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003222","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>There is a need for guidance to support human factors/ergonomics (HFE) practitioners to conceive and design HFE interventions that live up to the fundamental principles underpinning the discipline of HFE. The principles are that HFE has a systems focus, is design driven and focuses on both performance and well-being outcomes.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>The objectives of this scoping review are to: identify studies that meet these principles in order to discover how commonly HFE studies meet the principles for the practice of HFE; the scope and characteristics of studies that meet the principles; and the learning that can be gleaned from these studies.</p><p><strong>Eligibility criteria: </strong>The principles were operationalised into four criteria that were used to select studies: (1) The intervention acts on more than one aspect or element of the system; (2) a context-relevant needs assessment or systems analysis phase is undertaken to design the intervention; (3) the intervention has an active element that is designed to enhance safety, quality, efficiency, effectiveness or well-being and (4) the intervention is evaluated.</p><p><strong>Sources of evidence: </strong>The review considered all studies published in peer-reviewed journals between 2010 and July 2024 in which an HFE or related intervention is presented and evaluated. Electronic searches were conducted across five databases plus Google Scholar.</p><p><strong>Charting methods: </strong>Data extraction was done by consensus using extraction forms and following two stages: (1) data extraction and (2) data interpretation.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 13 intervention studies met the inclusion criteria, suggesting that adherence to core HFE principles is rare. All included studies self-identified as HFE intervention studies. All interventions had a clearly defined scope and most targeted at least four system elements, that is, person, tools, technology, task, process, organisation, environment. The 'people' element was the one most commonly targeted. A wide range of organisational level and patient outcomes were measured, but no employee safety or well-being outcomes were measured in the included studies. In all cases, the intervention team included healthcare providers working with HFE/systems engineering/improvement experts, who often led the project.</p>","PeriodicalId":9052,"journal":{"name":"BMJ Open Quality","volume":"14 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11969590/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143787533","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Quality improvement project to reduce the incidence of nasal bridge pressure sores in adults requiring acute non-invasive ventilation (NIV) and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP).","authors":"Adam Rochester","doi":"10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003238","DOIUrl":"10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003238","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) use positive airway pressure delivered via a tight-fitting mask to treat respiratory failure. In the acute setting, the mask covers the nose and mouth with various interface options. National guidelines indicate that NIV use should be targeted for close to continuous use in the first 24 hours.Research has shown that some oro-nasal masks can generate pressures between 6.37 and 12.2 kPa on the nasal bridge when adjusted to minimise mask leak, essential in reducing patient-ventilator asynchrony. Research has also shown that tissue damage and necrosis can occur after just 2 hours of pressure-induced ischaemia at a pressure of 4.6 kPa, demonstrating this patient cohort's high risk of developing a medical device-related pressure injury (MDRPI).Baseline data from October 2021 onwards identified eight nasal bridge pressure ulcers reported via the Trust's incident reporting system. Five were classified as suspected deep tissue injury, and three were classified as category 2. No ulcers were scored at category 3 or worse.This project used the Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) approach to prevent any new nasal bridge pressure ulcer derived from using NIV or CPAP therapy for any patient admitted to our hospital site for 40 days from 1 November 2022. Using four PDSA cycles, there was a statistically significant reduction in the frequency of category 2 MDRPIs caused by NIV mask interfaces for 1466 'NIV days' across 19 calendar months.</p>","PeriodicalId":9052,"journal":{"name":"BMJ Open Quality","volume":"14 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11967000/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143779024","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Increasing evidence-based care practices for patients with <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> bacteraemia through required infectious diseases consultation in a tertiary care hospital: a quality improvement initiative.","authors":"Arunima Soma Dalai, Emma B Monti, Raghad Mallesho, Michael Obeda, Gerald A Evans, Santiago Perez-Patrigeon, Evan Wilson, Jorge L Martinez-Cajas, Prameet M Sheth, Lewis Tomalty, Heather Wise, Kiarah Shchepanik, Amelia Wilkinson, Geneviève C Digby, Anthony D Bai","doi":"10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003243","DOIUrl":"10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003243","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong><i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> bacteraemia had a higher mortality rate than average at Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC). Infectious diseases specialist consultation has been shown to improve outcomes for <i>S. aureus</i> bacteraemia by increasing adherence to evidence-based care practices. Yet, infectious disease specialists were not involved in many cases at KHSC.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>To improve adherence to evidence-based care practices by increasing the proportion of patients with <i>S. aureus</i> bacteraemia who receive a formal infectious diseases consultation.</p><p><strong>Interventions: </strong>A multimodal intervention consisting of (1) daily automated email of positive blood culture results to the infectious diseases team; (2) standardisation of prompts attached to positive blood culture results on the electronic medical record; (3) policy of mandatory infectious diseases consultation and (4) education of resident physicians.</p><p><strong>Implementation and evaluation: </strong>The outcome measure was adherence to evidence-based care practices, defined as echocardiography, repeating blood cultures and treatment with a first-line antibiotic. A secondary outcome measure was 90-day mortality. The process measure was the proportion of patients receiving formal infectious diseases consultation. A balancing measure was hospital length of stay. All measures were monitored semimonthly using statistical process control charts for time periods before and after intervention.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>There were 171 and 186 patients with <i>S. aureus</i> bacteraemia in the preintervention and postintervention period, respectively. Between these two periods, the proportion of those who received evidence-based care practices increased from 73% to 82% (p=0.031) and demonstrated special cause variation. Mortality changed from 29% to 24% (p=0.400). The proportion of patients receiving an infectious diseases consultation increased from 47% to 90% (p<0.001) and demonstrated special cause variation. The median (IQR) length of stay was 18 (11-30) days and 17 (11-42) days in the preintervention and postintervention period, respectively (p=0.442).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>A multimodal intervention that implemented mandatory infectious diseases consultation significantly improved evidence-based care practices for <i>S. aureus</i> bacteraemia.</p>","PeriodicalId":9052,"journal":{"name":"BMJ Open Quality","volume":"14 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11966985/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143779022","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Using a collaborative approach to reduce falls in older people's adult mental health wards in a local health board in Wales.","authors":"Dolores Macchiavello, Paul Gimson, Kerstin Ackermann-Lloyd, Sophie Bassett, Christopher Bevan, Anna Brooks, Melanie Davies, Naomi Elias, Jessica Gapper, Gemma Gash, Andrew Hermolle, Naomi Hill, Caroline Humphreys, Bhuvan Kckhadka, Ana Llewellyn, Bleddyn Marsh, Leah Price, Bethan Rees, Leah Richards, Alison Sproston, Louise Walker, Simon Williams, Zoe Williams, Eleri Wright, Philippa Clark","doi":"10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003219","DOIUrl":"10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003219","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Between April 2020 and March 2021, the number of fall-related emergency admissions in England for adults over 65 years was 1933 per 100 000 people. Adult patients in hospital may be at risk of falling for many reasons including a history of falls, being medically unwell, dementia or delirium, the effects of their treatment or medication, poor mobility, visual and other sensory impairments along with their general well-being. Research has shown that falls can be reduced by 20%-30% through multifactorial assessments and interventions. The aim of these assessments and interventions is to identify and treat underlying reasons for falls such as muscle weakness, cardiovascular problems, dementia, delirium, incontinence and medication. However, national audits have found low levels of implementation of these assessments and interventions in UK hospitals. As part of a new patient safety improvement initiative, a collaborative was developed to reduce the incidence of in-patient falls rate per 1000 bed days within five older adults' mental health wards in a health board in Wales. The falls collaborative project has resulted in substantial improvements in care, including an increase of patients receiving lying and standing blood pressure assessment, medication review and delirium assessments. While reported falls rates stayed the same for the five wards, when each ward individually was factored in, we saw a reduction in two wards and estimated that the increase in falls for the remaining of three wards was related to a previous state of under-reporting, considering the numbers stayed levelled throughout the collaborative. The small reduction we saw was achieved without any extra support or allocated resources, and the ongoing staffing challenges all five wards experienced throughout the collaborative, all these improvements were received as a great success. The team was shortlisted for the National Health Service Wales Awards in the Safe Care category, something they took great pride in.</p>","PeriodicalId":9052,"journal":{"name":"BMJ Open Quality","volume":"14 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11962793/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143763013","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Quality improvement in maternity care: insights from system integration simulations.","authors":"Fatemah Qasem","doi":"10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003204","DOIUrl":"10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003204","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This report summarises the implementation of system integration simulations conducted prior to the transfer of clinical care at a newly established 789-bed maternity hospital transitioning from a 400-bed facility, highlighting key findings and actionable insights. The simulations focused on critical scenarios involving elective and emergency caesarean sections, aiming to enhance operational readiness and patient safety. Results indicate significant improvements in communication, staffing, logistics and equipment management were required and subsequently implemented prior to transfer of clinical care. These findings serve as a blueprint for establishing best practices in maternity care transitions, setting a new standard for operational excellence and patient safety.</p>","PeriodicalId":9052,"journal":{"name":"BMJ Open Quality","volume":"14 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11962795/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143763010","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluating the utility of texting in the ambulatory care of paediatric patients with type 1 diabetes: a quality improvement report.","authors":"Eiko Waida, Susi Wilkinson, Madison Brauer","doi":"10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003114","DOIUrl":"10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003114","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic and costly disease that is often diagnosed in childhood. Achieving excellent glycaemic control during this period requires attention to multiple factors. Advances in technology now allow clients (patients/family members) to fine-tune their insulin delivery, necessitating support from highly skilled nurses, dietitians and physicians (clinicians). Despite quarterly team-based appointments, interim issues and questions often arise, and families may not always reach out for support. The incidence of T1D is rising, and yet barriers exist to expanding the clinical team. Additionally, clinicians are not necessarily colocated, making timely and efficient communication challenging. We postulated that offering texting as a communication modality would increase client interactions by 20%, and that clients and clinicians would find it a desirable tool in the delivery of efficient and timely ambulatory care.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A prospective interventional quality improvement project was conducted between July 2022 and August 2023. Baseline data were obtained for the number of interactions. Parents, caregivers and age-appropriate patients were then registered onto the texting platform (N=125) and received a weekly check-in message. The number of interactions and clinical time spent texting and providing care because of a text interaction were collected.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>There were approximately 30 interactions per week, an increase of >2300%. The average additional clinical time required was 56 min per week (average of 30 s/interaction). Qualitatively, 100% of our clients expressed a desire to continue texting with the team. 97% of clients felt that texting was an important way for them to contact their diabetes team. Our clinicians also wished to continue texting, valuing the improved efficiency of communication and experiencing a greater degree of connection with their clients.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Texting is a welcome modality of communication between clients and their clinical care team in the setting of ambulatory T1D care, resulting in increased engagement.</p>","PeriodicalId":9052,"journal":{"name":"BMJ Open Quality","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11962775/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143750945","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Same-day discharge pathway for elective total hip and knee arthroplasty patients: a quality improvement project at a Canadian community hospital.","authors":"Tim Kostamo, Jennifer Watters, Brittany Spence, Reza Faraji, Janice Eng, Michele Montgomery","doi":"10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003170","DOIUrl":"10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003170","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) surgeries performed annually are increasing, with over $1.26 billion in hospital costs, according to the 2021/2022 Canadian Institute of Health Information report. A trend towards same-day surgery has helped support the rising demand for arthroplasty in an ageing population and has established evidence for patient safety and satisfaction.Burnaby Hospital sought to develop a same-day pathway to increase at-home recovery opportunities and associated recovery benefits. The aim was to increase the same-day discharge (SDD) rate for THA and TKA from 8% to 15% within a 12-month period.The project team used the Model for Improvement framework to guide the team in achieving the project aim. A series of Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles and ramps were conducted on five interventions: screening tool, focused arthroplasty same-day track automatisation, surgical and anaesthesia standardisation and patient education resources.The health authority's electronic health records (MEDITECH) were used to extract 18 months of baseline data. The data analysis software (SQCPack) was used to monitor the data throughout the project to assess its progress. The results of the SDD rate increased from 8% to 20% with a success rate of 82% SDD, while achieving a decrease in readmission rates to 4-7% from a baseline average of 7-8%. There was no increase in emergency room visits and readmission within 30 days for SDD when compared with the standard inpatient cases. Both staff and patients reported high levels of satisfaction.Driven by a working group creates success with clear goals, strong departmental collaboration, and substantial stakeholder and leadership support. The team viewed failures as learning opportunities to adapt new Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles and strategies for developing continuous improvement throughout the project's life cycle. Process automation was key for a sustainable path for improvements; this provided resiliency against changes from external and staffing pressures.</p>","PeriodicalId":9052,"journal":{"name":"BMJ Open Quality","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11962803/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143751060","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Using quality improvement methodology to reduce Did Not Attends in healthcare within a UK prison.","authors":"Nitish Lakhman, Suzan Harleston, Emma Knight, Charlie Bodnar, Francesca Addis, Vishal Bheenick","doi":"10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003183","DOIUrl":"10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003183","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>His Majesty's Prison East Sutton Park is an open prison and young offender institution for women in Maidstone, England. In 2022, it developed a high Did Not Attend (DNA) rate of 21% per week across all five core healthcare clinics. Services with a high DNA rate increase waiting times for other patients, increase cost wastage and reduce efficiency and resource management. DNAs occur across all parts of the National Health Service with different levels of severity; however, DNAs within a prison create a unique challenge not shared with community services due to the setting. This quality improvement project aimed to reduce and sustain a below 10% DNA rate.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The healthcare team worked in partnership with the prison to develop a quality improvement project using the Model for Improvement, which had a clear aim, measures and change ideas tested using Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles. The outcome measures were plotted using Statistical Process Control charts to highlight and track the improvements.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>There was an 86% decrease in DNAs across all five core healthcare clinics. The overall DNA rate was reduced from a pre-intervention rate of 21% per week to 3% per week post-intervention. Clinical time wasted decreased by 76% from a pre-intervention of 284 minutes per week to 66 minutes per week post-intervention. Cost wastage for missed appointments decreased by 67% from a pre-intervention of £303 per week to £99 per week post-intervention. These core outcome measures have been sustained for more than 35 weeks (August 2023 to April 2024) and continue to be sustained.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Implementing standard processes and systematic change ideas, including developing partnership working with the prison and better engagement with patients, led to a significant and sustained reduction in DNAs. During the project time frame, there was also no change in the number of patient complaints about healthcare.</p>","PeriodicalId":9052,"journal":{"name":"BMJ Open Quality","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11962768/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143751063","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Diagnosing diagnostic error of endometriosis: a secondary analysis of patient experiences from a mixed-methods survey.","authors":"Allyson C Bontempo, Gordon D Schiff","doi":"10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003121","DOIUrl":"10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003121","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>To analyse endometriosis diagnostic errors made by clinicians as reported by patients with endometriosis.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study deductively analysed qualitative data as part of a larger mixed-methods research study examining 'invalidating communication' by clinicians concerning patients' symptoms. Data analysed were responses to an open-ended prompt asking participants to describe an interaction with a clinician prior to their diagnosis in which they felt their symptoms were dismissed. We used three validated taxonomies for diagnosing diagnostic error (Diagnosis Error Evaluation and Research (DEER), Reliable Diagnosis Challenges (RDC) and generic diagnostic pitfalls taxonomies).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 476 relevant interactions with clinicians were identified from 444 patients to the open-ended prompt, which identified 692 codable units using the DEER taxonomy, 286 codable units using the RDC taxonomy and 602 codable diagnostic pitfalls. Most prevalent subcategories among these three taxonomies were inaccurate/misinterpreted/overlooked critical piece of history data (from DEER Taxonomy; n=291), no specific diagnosis was ever made (from diagnostic pitfalls taxonomy; n=271), and unfamiliar with endometriosis (from RDC Taxonomy; n=144).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Examining a series of patient-described diagnostic errors reported by patients with surgically confirmed endometriosis using three validated taxonomies demonstrates numerous areas for improvement. These findings can help patients, clinicians and healthcare organisations better anticipate errors in endometriosis diagnosis and design and implement education efforts and safety to prevent or mitigate such errors.</p>","PeriodicalId":9052,"journal":{"name":"BMJ Open Quality","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11962774/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143750944","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Increasing clinical recruitment rate to a single-site observational study: a quality improvement study.","authors":"Hayley Macleod, Nadine Copty, Damien Doherty, Robbie Power, Kate Ahearne, Niamh Ryan, Khalid Saeed, Ellen O'Rourke, Rehman Faryal, Luisa Weiss, Sarah Kelliher, Barry Kevane, Patricia Maguire, Fionnuala Ni Ainle","doi":"10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003091","DOIUrl":"10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003091","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Clinical recruitment encompasses a significant challenge in multidisciplinary research, often acting as a bottleneck to timely completion due to slower-than-expected patient enrolment rates. Addressing this, enhanced communication within clinical departments is crucial. A quality improvement (QI) study was initiated in the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital (MMUH) to increase the slow recruitment rate of cancer-associated thrombosis patients to the EXPECT Study.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Process and stakeholder mapping as well as Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) cycles highlighted effective initiatives to increase recruitment rates to the study. The PDSA cycle 1 aimed at increasing clinical communication and study education through implementation of work package-1, which included engaging a clinical project sponsor to drive recruitment and increasing study awareness through educational talks/informative materials. The PDSA cycle 2 aimed to increase process efficiency and paired sample acquisition through implementation of work package-2, which included holding weekly QI meetings, building a strong multidisciplinary QI team and mapping the recruitment process. These efforts aimed to increase recruitment from one to four patients enrolled per month, with recruitment progress tracked with a run/bar chart over a 2 year period.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The communication/education work package-1 initiatives increased the recruitment rate from one to two patients per month, with target enrolment met or exceeded 33% of the QI-project duration. Recruitment numbers nearly doubled in roughly half the timeframe, from 10 patients enrolled in the first 16 months to 18 patients enrolled in the 9 months of the QI study. Furthermore, a greater than threefold statistically significant increase in paired sample acquisition from 20% to 66% was documented following the execution of the second PDSA cycle, aimed at improving process efficiency.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This QI study highlights the need for a highly engaged study team, specifically the clinical project sponsor driving recruitment from a medical front-line perspective as well as a highly efficient recruitment process.</p>","PeriodicalId":9052,"journal":{"name":"BMJ Open Quality","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11962773/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143751048","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}